On-Line Survival and Preparedness Courses

Today there is an on-line course for almost anything that you might want to learn, and that includes courses in survival and wilderness first aid. But, can you really learn to survive in the wilderness by taking an on-line class? A similar question might be, can you learn to survive by reading a survival manual? As with any skill you first have to acquire foundational knowledge, and thereafter apply that knowledge to develop the skills yourself. On-line courses, reading survival manuals, and watching videos all help you develop that foundational knowledge. 

To begin your on-line survival training start with a short, inexpensive, course such as the "Essential Guide to Survival in the Wilderness with Nothing" . This on-line course is taught by Thomas Schorr-kon, who runs a survival school based in the UK. In addition to taking the on-line survival course, you should take a basic first aid course, which is available on-line from First Aid for Free. 

Some of the outdoor magazine publishers also offer courses and instructional videos on their web-sites.  A couple of examples include:

• American Survival Guide University
  
• Outdoor Life University - Fundamentals of Wilderness Survival

If you find that you enjoy on-line training and are able to learn and develop skills from these courses, you might want to continue your training with these courses as well:

Alderleaf Wilderness College, Essential Wilderness Survival Skills ($195.00)

Wilderness First Aid Basics ($149.00)

  

Major universities such as the University of Pittsburgh offer Disaster Preparedness courses through Coursera. 

"Introduction to Community Emergency Response Teams" (IS-317), is an independent study course, offered by the American Federal Emergency Management Agency, which serves as an introduction to CERT for those wanting to complete training or as a refresher for current team members. There are six modules in all. Topics include: Introduction to CERT, Fire Safety, Hazardous Material, Terrorist Incidents, Disaster Medical Operations, and Search and Rescue. The on-line course takes between six and eight hours to complete. 

There are no doubt many other on-line survival and wilderness medicine courses available. The courses mentioned above are just examples of what is available. You can also build your own course or knowledge base by finding on-line references and resources and using them to develop your personal survival knowledge and skills. Some examples of these resources include YouTube Channels like: 

• Survival Lilly (Austria)
  
• North Survival (Sweden)
  
• Survival Russia (Russia)
  
• Wilderness Outfitters  (United States)

And survival focused web-sites like: 

• Equipped to Survive
  
• Canadian Wilderness Survival 

Regardless of how you gain your knowledge, the important thing is that you always continue to learn and develop new skills in whatever you choose to do.